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RecycleMania: How Hard Can This Be?. Penn Joins RecycleMania Old Hand at Penn, New to Recycling. Penn is a BIG Place!. Lots of people creating waste!. 180+ buildings on 270 acres. 23,743 Students 4,822 Faculty 15,671 Staff 13,463 Health System ???? Visitors . Feb 2007
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RecycleMania:How Hard Can This Be? Penn Joins RecycleMania Old Hand at Penn, New to Recycling
Penn is a BIG Place! Lots of people creating waste! 180+ buildings on 270 acres 23,743 Students 4,822 Faculty 15,671 Staff 13,463 Health System ???? Visitors
Feb 2007 Our Dining Marketing Manager Lets try this RecycleMania in our Dining Halls! Then she left…. But it got me thinking… Why not? After all, How hard can this be? Getting in..
Tried the idea out on close colleagues Gathered key players Housing College Houses Facilities Invited people to join effort They all said yes! Team included Students House Deans Housekeeping Facilities Housing Dining Communications Marketing Goal - Dining and Residences ONLY Gather Friends and Allies
Penn had a recycling program Data available Focus on students and College Houses Start with Basics Have some fun What we thought
What we discovered • Yes, Penn had a recycling program….but • No champion in recent years • No specific Recycling Manager • Responsibilities split between Schools/Centers and Facilities • Housekeeping managed by outside company • Process Fractured
What we discovered • Data collection at campus level only • No building data • No College House data • No standard containers • No user instructions • Confusion about what to recycle • Suspicion about entire process • Facilities folks concerned
Despite all that… • Lots of interest at all levels • People wanting to help • Really wanting to recycle • Lots of recycling going on • Some people taking it home! • Willingness to tackle this • Student activism pushing University • People showed up for our meetings! • Begged to join team!
Each Building is different Offices Housekeeping removes trash from offices to loading docks Residences Students place waste in trash chutes or floor trash cans or even take to outside containers Then Housekeeping removes waste from floors to central location in building or outside of building Central Facilities waste haulers remove waste from outside buildings to municipal waste site Schools and Centers Manage their buildings Set policies, procedures What We learned
Where Recycling Goes • Penn Urban Park staff picks up some waste and recycling • BFI picks up trash, recycling from the Quad • Precision Hydraulic moves most cardboard from balers and recycling compactors • Recycled paper and co-mingled bottles, cans, glass goes to Blue Mountain
What We Did • Created a Brand • Included Marketing and Communications up front • Created Buzz • Website • www.upenn.edu/recyclemania • Email recyclemania@pobox.upenn.edu • Logo
What We Did • Signage • Events
Trash Mountain ( uh, Trash Hill??) What we did .
What we did Sign Penn’s Recycling Pledge!
TAKE THE PENN PLEDGE! • I pledge: To find out what materials I can and cannot recycle in my community. To lead by example in my residence and in my neighborhood by recycling. To recycle batteries, cell phones and other electronic waste. To email my elected officials to ask them to increase funding for my community's recycling programs. To tell five friends that recycling is the easiest thing they can do to slow global warming To stop, think, and recycle while I'm at Penn!
What we did Student Murals
What we did Visited Blue Mountain Recycling
Weekly Events Garbage Quizzo Water Challenge Lectures Movies Into The Wild What We Did .
Web development and hosting Email account Signs Banners Hanging Banners Trips Giveaways Hats for hardworking teams Get vendor support On and off campus Make signs, banners reusable People effort Priceless Budgets
Pay attention to culture Who reports to who What are their incentives How are they staffed Understand Why do they do what they do? Why don’t they do some things? Economics Incentives Or lack of incentives Help people come along Different speeds Different concerns Needs for information Givelots of credit Be in it for the long terms changes Lessons Learned
Data matters Don’t embarrass Be able to explain Competition Not as important as we thought Schools/Centers Really interested Most change there Potentially huge impact Lessons Learned
It’s a lot of work! 10 weeks is a long time Lots of programming ideas needed Need to get champions for each area Communicate, communicate, communicate Need better way to reach schools and centers Education, information is critical Lessons Learned
Think so Hope to have recycling manager Need better way to measure volumes by College House, by Schools Focus on Waste Minimization Harder message But more important Begin in Fall Info to new students Will we do it again?
Our Results Cumulative Results in Pounds, through Week 9 Top of the Ivys in Waste Minimization! We beat Harvard!